I had a great conference, I hope you did, too! And I hope you got what you needed to progress with your work.

As one of the Honored Guiding Members, I was especially touched by the people who wrote something in my book, (I only reminded one, or maybe twenty, to do so). I speak for Chris Jorgensen and Sharon Mignerey in thanking the organization for making this particular conference so special for us.

I know that I will treasure the memory book. I'll be able to look at that wonderful volume and think that I have made friends, contributed to my writing community, and perhaps I've helped one or two writers along the way. That makes me proud.

No doubt I'll also take it out during the long, dark teatimes of my soul to help keep me going .

And since I mentioned outer validation, I have to repeat something I know, and that is: Outer validation is a drug, you need more of it, more often if you depend on it to keep you motivated.

Inner validation is what will continue to support you. My particular motivational saying is: I am doing the best I can with the resources I have. That works in past tense, too. I did the best I could with that writing, that book, with the resources I had.

Because all you, and I, can do is our best, right?

But that memory book will remind me, too, that I have friends who will stand me in good stead. During those dark moments when I need encouragement, I will remember that I can talk to my friends who will listen and help me.

And that's really what this community of writers, the conference is all about. Networking, yes; hoping to take another step up the ladder of a writing career, yes; but, for me, the bottom line is that I see people I may only see once a year. People I still consider my friends.

The conference, to me, is a place to reconnect with my friends who are no longer geographically close. To renew offers of support, to accept offers of support when I'm down.

That's really what we need each other for, to keep us going day-to-day, to talk to, to listen. About writing and about life.

And about our writing life. You need to brainstorm a plot? Sure, I'll help you. You're having a problem with this scene, whose point of view should it be in? I'll listen, I'll read.

RITA® Award Winning novelist Robin D. Owens credits the telepathic cat with attitude in selling her first futuristic/fantasy romance, HeartMate, published in December 2001. Since then she has written fourteen books in the series, Heart Fire the latest in November 2014.

Her five book Luna series included average American women Summoned into another dimension to save a world. Her Mystic Circle series was a mixture of contemporary urban and romantic fantasy set in Denver.

And her newest stories, about an uptight accountant who sees Old West ghosts and helps them move on, started with Ghost Seer in April 2014. She is profoundly thankful to be recipient of the 2004 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Writer of the Year award as well as the 2011 Writer of the Year Award, the Colorado Romance Writers Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2010 Best Paranormal and Best of the Best Daphne Du Maurier Award. More about Robin on her website.

Wow, real comments on my blog! Yay! Thanks, Nathan, I know we didn’t get to talk one on one, but I’m glad I attended the fantasy get together. Thanks, Janet, always nice to have your roomie say good things. 🙂

Very nice post, Robin! We never know how we all affect each other…and conferences like these are so good for the writer’s soul! In my case the RMFW conference was the very first one I ever attended, some 30 years ago, and I only attended my second RMFW conference this past weekend! It felt so good to reconnect! To see those I hadn’t seen…some in as many years! And it was so cool to see, talk, and reminisce with those who actually remembered me and I wasn’t sure if they would, like you, Christine, and Sharon!

Receive Blog Posts via Email

Email Address

2016 Anthology: Found

FOUND : Sometimes things are better off lost. And sometimes they were never meant to disappear. Either way, when they’re found, everything changes. Explore illuminating tales of short fiction that reveal the consequences of finding something once lost or better off forgotten. These stories will draw you in and show you the profound changes that happen when something is found. This collection contains both award-winning and talented new writers including Mark Stevens, Dean Wyant, J.A. Kazimer, Joshua Viola, Diana Holguin-Balogh, Terry Kroenung, Natasha Watts, and more. More Info